Thread: price help ??

That is a very good way of doing contracting work. You will know your gross before your day starts. I do it both ways but I personally like giving a proposal up front. If I can give a proposal of $300.00 for trimming shrubs. Then bring a three man crew in with 3 gas power trimmers and knock it out in 1 hour, I will be way ahead on that job.

I will say it again "NO" job takes 1 hr. It is so effin important to know this...

Now lets look at the true time cost for this 1 hr. job, customer calls our office for a hedge trimming job after brief pleasantries on the phone linda or sue gets down to actually taking the order of the hedge trimming job if the customers requires a date of when this will take place she has to open a window on her desk top and see what the current work load of the maintenance crews looks like and determine a date. if this is a cold call and not a current customer it takes even longer due to the fact info needs to be entered into the database. if they require a cost estimate for this 1 hr. hedge trimming job well that will take even longer. is linda or sues potential 10 minutes on the phone free? no its not. info beamed to the shop where someone takes the time to write this on the maintenance white board along with equipment list and any special instructions sue may have acquired on the phone with customer. could this have all taken maybe 4 minutes? crew arrives at 7 reads white board crew leader starts yelling load this up move it... crew grabs the trimmers off the trimmer racks in shop and loads the truck. could this have taken 4 minutes, if we are lucky sure. now this small insignificant 1hr. tops hedge trimming job is potentially at 14 minutes so far. ok now we drive could it take ten minutes to get their? in a dream maybe. lets say it does so now we are at 24minutes. could it take 2 minutes for the crew to jump out grab equipment fire it up and trim? sure if were lucky lets say it does now this 1 hr. insignificant hedge trimming job is potentially at 26 minutes. and the trimmers were just fired up..... trim clean up. hear is your 1 hour. now we are at 1hr. and 26 minutes crew leader signs production sheet attesting this job was completed to our standards and lists actual equipment used and for how long and who was on the job, he submits this to the office. could this have taken 2 minutes? sure now we are at 1 hr. and 28 minutes. now the billing is done. production sheet is taken equipment used put in a database customer billed invoice created printed folded sealed and ran through the postage machine. and mailed could this have taken 5 minutes? sure if were lucky but I really think it takes longer. Now hear we are this simple 1 hr. trimming job is now at 1 hr. and 33 minutes. and I haven't even accounted for the disposal of the 4 green barrels filled with clippings, all these times are on the extreme conservative side. if those were actual mobilization times I would have a stroke of happiness and a lot of people would be getting raises. now after 4 minutes of typing all of this, I cant help but feel I wasted my time because you have been in business 26 years and think their is a landscape maintenance job that takes 1 hour of true cost. Can I have the 4 minutes of my life back please?

Thread started with wanting to know how much to charge for hedge in pic. My charge would of been around $250.00 and my 3 man crew would of whipped that out in 30 minutes. If they couldn't't do it in 30 minutes they wouldn't't be working for me. My labor rate is $60.00/hr. The total time I would of had in that job would of been 1 hour. Trust me, I know more about expenses than most contractors.

Thread started with wanting to know how much to charge for hedge in pic. My charge would of been around $250.00 and my 3 man crew would of whipped that out in 30 minutes. If they couldn't't do it in 30 minutes they wouldn't't be working for me. My labor rate is $60.00/hr. The total time I would of had in that job would of been 1 hour. Trust me, I know more about expenses than most contractors.

Yes there are 1 hour jobs and most of the time the profit is higher.

Stick to the thread next time.

Stick to the thred? You asked a question, in post #3 you stated it is a 1 hr. Job now in your latest post you say its a 30 minute job you shaved 30 minutes so nice to see your consistent you operate like this often?

__________________All equipment is wore out. <- Never mind. All equipment has been repainted and with new decals. It's like I have new mower's again!
48" Ferris WB
36" Ferris WB
All Echo hand helds <- That's how I feel at the end of the day.